upply Chain Management
Basic Stance to Supply Chain Management
The Kawasaki Group Mission Statement highlights Kawasaki’s commitment to create new value that shapes a beautiful and comfortable society for tomorrow while seeking harmonious coexistence with the environment through high-level, integrated technological capabilities in wide-ranging areas. But the cooperation of business suppliers who provide the necessary materials and component parts of Kawasakibrand products is imperative to the creation of new value.
This perspective applies to CSR as well. At Kawasaki, we look beyond CSR-compliant business activities of our own. We believe that cooperation all along the supply chain, which includes business partners, is vital, and we ask them to work with us to enhance our CSR responses.
Supply Chain Management Structure
Kawasaki adopted its Basic Policies for Material Procurement and its Code of Conduct for Dealing with Business Partners in April 2011, and its CSR Procurement Guidelines in April 2012, all of which are published on the Kawasaki website.
*1.
Explains Kawasaki’s approach (policy) to procurement activities and describes issues that the Company would like business partners to address.
*2.
Explains the respective duties of those dealing with business partners, including Company directors, employees, temporary employees and part-timers, in line with the Basic Policies for Material Procurement.
*3.
Requests the understanding and cooperation of business partners as pertains to CSR activities by detailing issues in the Basic Policies for Material Procurement that Kawasaki would like business partners to address so as to underpin CSR activities throughout the supply chain.
Our procurement activities are built upon our basic policies, code of conduct and guidelines, and they reflect our approach to CSR, particularly in terms of compliance, human rights, labor, health and safety, and our respect for the global environment. We also seek the support of our business partners and actively promote CSR activities throughout the supply chain.
In addition, in fiscal 2015 CSR procurement acquired a more global, Group-wide embrace, as domestic and overseas companies within Kawasaki Group that procure materials established supply chain management systems fine-tuned to respective corporate structures and published policies on their own websites.
Basic Policies for Material Procurement
Code of Conduct for Dealing with Business Partners
CSR Procurement Guidelines
Reinforcing Partner Sentiment with Suppliers
At Kawasaki, we seek to forge cooperative relationships with our business partners based on mutual trust, and we strive to foster a sense of coexistence and co-prosperity in joint activities. Toward this end, each internal company and business center maintains a cooperation-building association comprising business partners with whom the respective business segment has cultivated close ties. We emphasize efforts to reinforce the partnership perspective through the activities described below.
Holding of regular meetings, to share policies on procurement, production and other operations
Implementation of improvement initiatives, emphasizing joint efforts between Kawasaki and business partners to enhance quality and production
Holding of lectures and workshops on such themes as human resource development and management practices
Offering of factory tours and discussion opportunities for member companies
Conflict Minerals
In December 2013, Kawasaki posted its Policy Regarding Procurement of Conflict Minerals on its website, which states clearly that Kawasaki has no intention whatsoever of being party to conflicts or inhumane acts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries through the procurement or use of the tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold—so called conflict minerals—that are produced in these countries.
Policy Regarding Procurement of Conflict Minerals
Armed groups that repeatedly commit inhumane acts such as killings, looting and sexual violence may derive capital from the four minerals of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold (known as “conflict minerals”) being produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighboring countries. As a result, there is a concern that these conflict minerals will lead to an escalation of problems.
The Kawasaki Heavy Industries Group has no intention whatsoever of being party to such conflicts or inhumane acts through the procurement or use of these conflict minerals in consideration of respect for human rights. Going forward, efforts will be made to tackle the issue of conflict minerals in close liaison with customers and suppliers.
Thorough Compliance
Each year, Kawasaki holds a group workshop intended for procurement divisions within the Group to ensure compliance with procurement-related laws and regulations, particularly the Subcontractors’ Act (formally, the Act against Delay in Payment of Subcontract Proceeds, Etc. to Subcontractors) and the Construction Industry Law. Of note, with regard to the Subcontractors’ Act, not limited to procurement department, we maintain proactive measures for dissemination and enlightening, as outlined below.
In October 2009, we published a collection of examples of Subcontractors’ Act violations, using actual cases in which other companies had contravened this law.
In April 2013, we posted a checklist for self-auditing compliance status pursuant to the Subcontractors’ Act on the corporate intranet. This checklist functions as a tool for identifying any administrative activity prone to violations of the Subcontractors’ Act and for correcting such situations.
Since fiscal 2012, we have held sessions, mainly for design and manufacturing divisions at plants and major affiliated companies. In fiscal 2015, the sessions attracted 588 participants. (Reference: To date, 2,734 people have attended the sessions.)